


Close 2 Enough

by ItsaMePatches



Category: VeggieTales
Genre: F/M, Gen, One-Sided Attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:23:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaMePatches/pseuds/ItsaMePatches
Summary: There she was, sitting among fellow actors (and whatever the heck they were outside the life of Big Idea Studios), chatting and eating lunch with them. For some reason or another, Petunia Rhubarb chose to continue wearing that pink princess dress even though they were on break for their "Sweetpea Beauty" dress rehearsal. Man, she looked so pretty in it.She was pretty.





	Close 2 Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tomorrowsthe16th](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomorrowsthe16th/gifts).



> The names for the scallions are from the "Sweetpea Beauty" episode.
> 
> Scallion 2 = Barry  
> Scallion 3 = Frank  
> Scallion 1 = Eddie

* * *

 

 

          There she was, sitting among fellow actors (and whatever the heck they were outside the life of Big Idea Studios), chatting and eating lunch with them. For some reason or another, Petunia Rhubarb chose to continue wearing that pink princess dress even though they were on break for their "Sweetpea Beauty" dress rehearsal. Man, she looked so pretty in it.

          _She_ was pretty.

          His face burned immediately when that comment intruded his thoughts. He ducked back around the corner and slammed his back against the wall with an embarrassed sigh. Just...inhale through the nose, _aaaaaand_...exhale. There we go.

          "Uh, you okay, Barry?"

          He yelped and spun to the right. Low and behold, there was Frank staring up at him with a quirked brow and his Nintendo 3DS in his hold. "Dang, don't scare me like that, Frank," Barry _almost_ whined. "And yeah, I'm... _okay_."

          Frank scoffed a short laugh, shoving his portable gaming system into his hoodie front pocket. "You were looking at Petunia again, weren't you?"

          " _No_..."  
          "..."  
          "...yeah."

          "You're glad about being closer to her in an episode, aren't you?" He paused. "I mean," Frank said with a shrug, "the two of you don't get to interact in it though."

          The increase in the pacing of his heart began again, so Barry took a breath and then responded, "I know, but it's better than nothing."

          "Think she'll remember your name this time?"  
          "...I hope she will..."

          Barry had the luck of running into Petunia seconds before rehearsal started. Heck, they even had a brief chat! But when Petunia was about to say "have a good time", the redhead struggled at the end of her sentence with a murmur. That was when she then questioned what his name was.

          It's safe to say that he died on the inside, but told her anyway while attempting to retain his posture.

          Thankfully, Frank and Eddie were there to comfort him later in private. After all, nobody seemed to remember their names after all these years of working at Big Idea. Were their names _that_ forgettable?

          Was _he_ forgettable?

          ...that was probably why he died on the inside, rather than simply someone forgetting his name yet again.

          Okay, yeah, that was it.

          Barry took another breath of fresh air through his nostrils, then he carefully peeped around the corner and scanned the small cafeteria for his crush. Yep, she was still eating. Huh, she said turkey made her sleepy, but it looked like she was eating some right now.

          She let out a small yawn on cue.

          A small smile came to his face.

          Meanwhile, Eddie approached Frank's side. "Our little lover boy's watching sweet, sweet Petunia, I see."

          Frank pipped in, "Sad, isn't it?"

          He hummed. "To an extent. While the chances of them hooking-up is incredibly slim," he saw Barry's body flinch at that, "there's still a percentage it could happen."

          "How much of a percentage we talkin' about?"  
          "...somewhere in the decimals."  
          "...so, like...a chance in hel--"

          Barry spun around to give them a pathetic glare before Frank could finish that sentence. "Can you guys not?"

          Frank huffed. "We're being realistic about the situation."

          "Sorry Barry," Eddie sighed out, "but...exactly what Frank said."

          Barry stayed quiet for a few seconds, but then shot to Eddie, "I'd take you more seriously if you weren't still in your costume, Mister Curly Mustache."

          The Brit huffed. "I'm finally a good guy, and I will parade in this costume to celebrate. Don't judge me, Mister Unrequited."

          "...I...am going to rehearse on my own."

          And off went Barry in the direction to where the sets were and away from Eddie, Frank, the cafeteria, and (as much as he really didn't want to) Petunia.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

          The lines Barry had to practice and memorize wasn't much, so he was able to get them down not long after the first couple of readings. What he decided to do next was to read the entire "Sweetpea Beauty" segment on the floor.

          ...well, this episode was going to be...

          ...uh...

          ...interesting? Was "interesting" the right choice of word to describe "Sweetpea Beauty"?

          "Oh well," he said out loud as he flipped a page and continued to read, "like Eddie mentioned...we get to be good guys in this."

          And so, he kept on reading; although it was a bit of a struggle at times but was thankfully thwarted by what his role (along with Eddie's and Frank's) would be. Besides, someone special was also gonna be in this, so it was worth it--

          "Oh hey! You're here early!"

          For the second time that day, Barry jumped from a voice breaking his thoughts. His eyes looked up and--

          _it was her_.

          Petunia Rhubarb was looking at him with that oddly cute "v" mouth curled into a smile and a copy of the script in her "hands".

          "Oh...hey."  
          "Hey, are you okay? You look pretty red like you've caught something..."

          Barry rose, holding his own script against his chest while his eyes kept their gaze on Petunia. "Just...hot, I think."

          "It _is_ kinda warm in here," she commented with a frown, tugging at the collar of her dress. She looked up at the ceiling and then to Barry, her "v" smile returning. "You sure were absorbed with the script. Wanna try going over the script together?"

          "Oh, but...we don't have any lines together."  
          "No problem! We can split the lines of the other characters! I know it sounds silly, but--"

          "No! It..." Barry prayed he wasn't turning crimson again, saying, "it sounds fun actually!"

          Wait a minute, if they did _that_...

          _He could read the prince's lines while she did her lines for the episode_.

          "Petunia...?"

          She blinked. "What's up?"

          Barry slowly lifted the paper over his eyes. Man, he couldn't look at her as he asked, "Can I read Larry's lines? You know...the prince's?"

          Petunia raised a brow. Huh, the stammering, the red face...was the poor guy embarrassed to ask? She took a single hop closer to him, then she peeled the script backwards so she could see his face. Yep, still flushed. She softened her grin and said, "Of course you can!"

          His heart soared so high that he could've sworn he almost blacked out for a second; however, he made himself recover before Petunia noticed with a quick shake of his head and a grin back at her. "Okay, let's do it!"

          And for the next thirty minutes, the duo read the script out loud and made sure to add extra feeling to their own bits in the actual segment. Gosh, once he reached the prince's lines and got to "interact" with Petunia's character, his stomach was doing flips whilst his heart pounded madly.

          He had fallen so hard for her, and although he had the misfortune of not being her partner in the real episode, Barry was ever-so thankful to have gotten the chance to spend this moment with her. God was certainly smiling down on him.

 

 

 

          The dress rehearsal came to a close, and the recording would commence in a week.

          As Barry shut the door to his dressing room, now out of that warm and itchy costume, he spotted someone approaching him from the left of him. He turned, and his heart leapt.

          "Petunia!"

          She beamed. "Hey there! I was thinking," she said, getting to the point without a falter of her smile, "since we had a nice time earlier, we could go by a cafe and hang out for dinner! A few of the others are doing that, so..."

          This day had gotten even better. _Nothing_ could've topped this!

          "Well...sure! Yeah! That sounds...nice!"  
          "Great, let me just grab my stuff real quick and then we'll go. Be right back, Barry!"

          Wait.

          Wait.

          Did she just...

          Did Petunia just say his name and not some type of variation of it?

          As soon as Petunia darted off to do what she said she needed, Barry let out a dreamy sigh and fell back against the door with a weak smile gracing his lips.

          Oh, how hard he fell for her.

          Yeah, sure, this wasn't a date or anything romantic, but to Barry (or "Scallion 2" as he was also known as)...this was close enough.


End file.
